


In The Crosshairs (REWRITE)

by turquoisedragon513



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Bluebolt being soft(tm), Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Mech Preg (Transformers), Other, me being in denial
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-13
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:34:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22687063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/turquoisedragon513/pseuds/turquoisedragon513
Summary: After Delphi, everything goes to the Pit.Especially for Pharma, who now is stuck with five extremely pushy dragonformers, one of who happens to be an Ex-Decepticon.The fact he's carrying doesn't hurt.
Relationships: Nightriser/Blazecharger, Pharma/Tarn
Kudos: 11





	1. Ice

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah so this is a complete rewrite of one of my older fics because I hated that one and needed to work on my character writing. 
> 
> I apologize for being so obsessive about my ocs and bad at summaries™

Everything ached as snow pooled on his wings. He just.. sat there, staring up at the sky as energon leaked from the clean cuts where his servos should have been.  
‘Well slag. This is how I go out then. Sorry about that little one.’  
Of course the newspark didn't know what was going on but they did know it was getting colder. It was scaring them. He started to black out just as a shadow fell over his frame.

‘Go check on Delphi, Bluebolt. Go to the home of the DJD and go yell about how you left the Decepticons and die a terrible death. That's my favorite thing.’  
The Predacon growled at the thought, trudging through the snow towards Delphi. The rest has wisely stayed behind, especially Nightriser and Blazecharger, who were both egg heavy and unable to cope with the cold. She spat some sparks out, hissing as frost lapped her glossa.  
‘Autobot signal detected: 175 units ahead’  
Her HUD beeped, and she stalled. She'd picked up on a ship leaving the planet, and received a message that Delphi was dead zone. She'd decided to fill out Prowl's slagging report so he'd shut up. But she didn't think that anyone would be out in this storm.  
:This is Bluebolt of the Terrorwings, is anyone out there?:  
Nothing but static, but her radar beeped a little red Autobot symbol directly to her left. She turned sharply, trudging through the snow and glaring through the white abyss until her talon hit something hard.  
:Uh, Blue? You know that guy you said to always tell you if we saw?:  
:Not now Nitro.:  
:No, Blue, this is serious. Tyrest is here.:  
Bluebolt froze, her gaze dropping to the jet almost covered in white powder at her pedes.  
“You lucky slagger.”  
She spat, grabbing his wings and hauling him onto her back, using her own wings to secure him, and dashing back to her ship.

By the time she got back she looked like a powered energon sweet. The snow had pooled all over, sticking to her horns and her claws. She looked very unamused.  
“Nitro, tell Pulsewatch to get the medbay ready.”  
The black and green Predacon lurched down from his position at the hangar door, squinting at her.  
“Why, do you need medical assistance to get all that snow off?”  
“No you utter aft, I found someone and if we don't get him stable he's going to offline.”  
Sweeping her wings downwards, the jet almost fell off her back, but Nitrocrash caught him.  
“Right. I'll do that.”

“Mmm. Finding dead people at plague infested medical stations on death ice planets. It sounds like the start of a horror holofilm.”  
Nightriser muttered, shuffling his wings as he pressed against Blaze. Blue was thawed out, her joints made horrendous creaking noises, but she wasn't covered in frozen white death anymore.  
“Relax. Pulsewatch said if any of us got an alien inside of our guts he'd cut it out and then we could eat it.”  
Blaze said assuredly, making Terror gag.  
“That's weird.”  
“No, it's smart. Eat them so they can't eat you.”  
The orange mech lifted his helm, before leaning down when Nightriser groaned.  
“The eggs are coming soon.”  
It had been a joyous day when the pack's only bonded pair had become sparked. Nightriser had been thought to be the carrier but through some means both of them were carrying.  
“Great. While our medic is busy whittling ice off a corpse.”  
Nitro growled, standing up. His shorter,stocky legs made it harder for him to grab the newsfeed away from Terror, but he did so nonetheless.  
“And look. Not one thing about Delphi. Amazing.”  
“Means less paperwork.”  
Terror offered, the black pools where his optics should have been staring off into space. Bluebolt sighed.

Pulsewatch eventually just put the mech into a observation room and cranked the heat up. Just in time, because Nightriser had started his lay cycle and soon after Blaze did too. He made sure both of the new parents and the pair of eggs were safe before going back to check on Bluebolt’s… find. His spark rate had gone steady. He was alive.

It was warm. He was dead. Ow, nope, everything hurt he was alive. Pharma groaned, rubbing his faceplates and… wait. He opened his optics, staring at the pair of servos on his arms.  
“Medic servos are hard to come by. Hope you appreciate what Blue did to the guy who had those. It wasn't pretty.”  
He froze, before the Autobot insignia and medical crosses came into sight on the blue and white helicopter across the room.  
“Who..”  
“Names Pulsewatch, former medic on a ship that the DJD tore to shreds, now medic on the Talons of Fury. Graduate of Iacon medical academy.”  
“Pharma. Chief medic of Delphi. Also a graduate.”  
Pulsewatch flicked a rotor, turning back around with a syringe full of something. Probably antifreeze.  
“Must have been before me. I graduated in the last class before the war broke out. Now look at me, medic for some mercs. Wouldn't trade them for the universe.”  
He wasted no time on injecting directly into Pharma’s arm, and went right to checking the IV.  
“You mentioned a Blue. Who… is he the captain?”  
“She sure is. Bluebolt of Messatine.”  
She'd been born in the mines. A femme.  
“Apparently femmes are more common to Predacons.”  
Wait what.  
“She's a what now.”  
“Predacon. A subgroup of dragonformer, they live on colony worlds, in caves. Smaller than average, and more.. animalistic.”  
He didn't seem rattled. Pit, the coptor didn't have scratch on him.  
“She saved your life. Found you out in the snow bleeding out. Dragged you back. Risked becoming the next List name being crossed off.”  
Pharma looked back down at the servos. A beastchanger had gotten these, had saved him. A Decepticon.  
“Why.”  
“She's all about proving the Autobots wrong. That a Con can be good, that they're still mechs. Pit, she's part of the Cybertronian council now.”  
“Talking big about me, now?”  
Pharma tried to turn to the door, but collapsed back with a pained groan.  
“Don't move. Trust me, it hurts. I wasn't out there nearly as long as you.”  
Her plating was a pale chromed blue, accented with silver. Crimson optics seemed to be looking him over.  
“And I am not a Seeker. Your kind is extremely sensitive to rapid temperature changes. Starscream glitched about it enough.”  
She chuckled, showing off fangs like knives.  
“But enough of that. Since you are technically an on duty Autobot I am obligated to ask if you want to return to Cybertron.”  
He ran a servo over his midsection, the memory flooding back.  
“No.”  
Pulsewatch’s rotors flew up, and Bluebolt raised an optical ridge.  
“Really?”  
“No. I.. I can't go back.”  
Not after Red Rust, not after Delphi, not after TARN.  
“By the way, keeping a newspark stable in those conditions deserves a fragging award.”  
The words broke him out of his stupor.  
“How did you…”  
“There are two expecting creators on this ship. If I didn't know what a newspark looked like I'd be scrap.”  
The medic snorted, gesturing at the scans pinned to the wall. A tiny dot was glowing right next to the larger one in the spark scan, and below it, the shape of a curled protoform.  
“It's okay.”  
“Better than that. It's really strong for a spark so young that got almost freeze dried.”  
Bluebolt whapped Pulsewatch over the helm, scowling.  
“Do not joke about that.”  
“Sorry.”  
“It is important that you rest. If you need anything simply ask.”  
The beastchanger turned, striding out with a low scraping noise as her claws left marks on the floor. Pulsewatch followed, his rotors lowered in a cautious way. Pharma fell back,and let sleep overtake him.


	2. Thaw

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a brief period with the Terrorwings, Pharma starts to have a tough time. Someone is eager to help.

It was cold again. Why was it cold. He was safe, why was it cold.  
‘Pharma.’  
No. He was gone, he couldn't be here. Bluebolt wouldn't have let him get onboard, would she? She was an ex-Con, he was her enemy.   
‘Don't struggle. You'll only hurt yourself.’  
The fire in his abdomen was burning him alive.   
‘After all, you do have something to remember me by.’  
Pharma screamed.

He hit his helm on the IV stand, which woke up the other two residents of the medical ward. He could hear them through the wall. Nightriser and Blazecharger said a few things and then footsteps echoed out, an orange helm poking around the doorframe.  
“You okay?”  
“Yes. It was just a recharge flux.”  
Blaze looked at him blankly.  
“A dream.”  
“Oh. You had a nightmare. Wanna talk about it? That makes Night feel better.”  
The Predacons were so… trusting. They used organic words for things too. He shook his helm, smiling.  
“No, you don't need to bear my burden.”  
Blaze tilted his own helm, his optics dilating.  
“Okay then. If you need anything we're right next door.”  
“I know.”  
The orange mech smiled, his optics going back to their normal yellow glory before turning around. Pharma closed his optics, trying to relax.

The spark had migrated and his sparkling was moving. It didn't kick often, only stirred occasionally.   
“I know. You've been through an awful lot already.”  
It pulsed at him, full of concern and curiosity.  
“No, I'm fine. I'll be fine now. Just some things I need to get off my chassis first.”

He'd learned a while ago that the Predacons didn't exactly think the way normal mechs did. So he could probably tell them. And probably Nightriser. He was the smallest, a dark blue dragon with strange features. He had been subjected to many things in his life.   
“You wanted to talk?”  
“Yes.”  
Pharma sighed, leaning against the warm metal of the beastchanger’s side as he lay next to the medic.  
“Need to get something off your chest huh?”  
Again, with the organic terms. He didn't mind anymore.   
“Yes.”  
“I won't tell anyone. Unless you say it's okay.”  
“I would prefer it if you told the others.”  
Yellow optics blinked once and then a massive muzzle rested on his legs.   
“I.. I did some things at Delphi.”  
“Good things or bad things.”  
“Bad.”  
Nightriser didn't say anything else, just lowered his wings.   
“I was the one who made the disease that wiped everyone out. I… It was to get rid of the DJD.”  
“If I could make a disease to get back at those slaggers I would.”  
Night commented, then he set his helm back down.  
“They… they weren't happy about the base. Tarn wanted payment.”  
He paused, wondering if he should tell the rest. Nightriser was young. But he was experienced, and had his own problems. Namely with energon consumption.  
“He wanted t-cogs.”  
“What, the transforming thingamadads?”  
“Yes. He's addicted to changing shape. He wears them out. He needed more. So… when a patient died… I took it out.”  
Those yellow optics weren't judging. They were sympathetic.  
“He kept raising the quota. I couldn't keep up. So I started killing patients. I kept doing that, keeping it hidden, until I had enough.”  
“And you unleashed the virus.”  
“Yes.”  
Nightriser rubbed his muzzle against Pharma’s chassis, a comforting gesture he saw often between beastchangers.  
“We've done way worse. Blue electrocuted a guy and ripped out his optics once. And Terror makes them… it's confusing actually.”  
The Predacon looked off thoughtfully, tilting his helm.  
“That's… not all that Tarn did.”  
Those yellow optics were back on him again, full and bright like moons.   
“He… he…”  
Pharma hiccuped, biting back tears. Night nudged his chin, letting the jet rub his horns.  
“You don't have to say anything you don't want to. It's okay.”  
“T..thank you.”

That night, when that purple mask came up in his dream again, he barely whimpered.  
‘A shame. I always looked forward to your noises.’  
‘You won't torture me anymore. I'm not there anymore.’  
His spark suddenly collapsed in on itself, twisting violently in his chassis.  
‘Did you really think I'd let you go that easily?’  
Suddenly, from the snow, a dark silhouette rose out from the white abyss. Razor sharp horns and lightning quick jaws snapped, and suddenly he wasn't on Messatine. He was on a rocky, barren landscape, and the rest of the Terrorwings and the DJD were grappling around him. Tarn and Bluebolt matched blow for blow, the Predacon roaring in the tank’s face. A scream echoed from his right, and Bluebolt threw Tarn to the side. The scene changed to the medbay, Terrorsmoke laying bleeding on a berth, his faceplates mangled, optics gone. Nightriser was nursing a burn wound on his wing, lapping at it tenderly. And Bluebolt was sitting on the floor, her helm on Terror's unmoving side as she sobbed.

He snapped out of it to see Nitrocrash pressed against him. The Predacon blinked pastel yellow optics at him, and then left.


	3. Liquid Nitrogen

“Does Nitrocrash have any… special powers.”  
Blaze stopped stuffing his face long enough to look up at Pharma curiously.  
“Yeah why? Did he say something?”  
“It's more of what he did.”  
Nightriser was in the other room, Pulsewatch said that his eating habits could make mechs.. uneasy.  
“Seriously? He's a stick in the mud. He really did his thing for you?”  
“What thing.”  
“Dreamwalking.”  
Blaze snapped his jaws swallowing whatever he'd been eating in one gulp.   
“He like… just gets in there. Let's you see his memories or let's him see yours. I wonder why he did it with you.”

Pharma wondered that himself, since he rarely saw the brutish black and green dragonformer. He was stout and heavybuilt, if he had been constructed and not sparked, he would have been used in the mines. But Nitrocrash had been born on Messatine, and he and the rest of his kind had left the planet at Bluebolt’s warning to instead take up residence in Kings Reach.   
“If I were you, I wouldn't be asking him questions.”  
Pulsewatch had said, as if Nitro had something else about him that was even more dangerous than simply being a colossal predator. As if any of the group did.   
He learned the truth soon enough. 

Money came easily to Bluebolt, as she had stockpiled massive amounts from her days in the Decepticons, and work for the new Cybertronian government. If anything, she took bounty hunting jobs as a sport. A deadly, blood filled sport.  
“Blue was a gladiator for a while, really successful. She still has to get out her instincts, ya know? Most of us just frag or something, but she kills.”  
Blaze commented from his spot in the canyon far below where Bluebolt was fighting a rogue triple changer. Pharma was securely fastened on Terrorsmoke’s back, after Pulsewatch insisted that it was better than him not getting in the air at all.  
“Why are we down here?”  
The aerial questioned, just before a massive clap of thunder shattered the air, and the triple changer fell from the sky, Bluebolt hovering with smoke curling from her maw.  
“That's why.”

Blaze could set himself on fire. Terror lived up to his name with potent, nanobot infused fear gas. Night spat acid. Bluebolt shot lighting. And Nitro could generate highly specific EMP blasts, strong enough to kill Overlord.   
“We tried fighting him once. I was still bitter over… everything.”  
Bluebolt said absently, staring down at the datapads of old Decepticon battles and information. A few were broken, shattered in marks that looked like her claws. The names were those of dead mechs. Apart from one.  
“You knew Swindle?”  
“You could say that.”  
She spat, snarling at nothing while Pharma looked down at Tarn's datapad. Scrawled across the back in claw marks was one word. Murderer.

Bluebolt had sparklings of her own. Four of them, three mechs and one femme. Pharma found out from her own file, tucked in a corner of her piles of datapads. Stormjewel, Labyrinth, Hoard and Thunderstrike. All still functioning. All Swindle’s sparklings.   
“She hates him, doesn't she.”  
Blaze looked down at the words, grimacing.   
“Yeah, she does. He got her sparked up with Thunder and just vanished. She never forgave him for that. Predacons are hardwired to care for sparklings and their carriers, so she just… doesn't understand why.”  
Judging by his tone, Blaze didn't either. Pharma couldn't blame him.   
“Sometimes it's better if a sparkling doesn't know their sire.”  
Rubbing a servo along his abdomen, Pharma realized that he too, never wanted the sire of his child to meet them. That thought followed him to recharge.

And into hell itself. Tarn was still there. Whatever Nitro had tried to do, Pharma would never be rid of him. Suddenly, a warm gust of air draped down his side, and Nitro’s burning optics came into his vision.  
‘He can't hurt you anymore. I won't let him. I couldn't help B… but I can help you.’  
The dragonformer’s gruff voice made the scene of Messatine cut out, changing to a landing strip on Cybertron. Of Nitro, the same as now, standing beside a much smaller mech, pleading for him to stay. Pharma felt his spark sink as the mech put a hand on Nitro’s face, whispering something, before walking away. The dragonformer watched him go silently, before whimpering, sinking to the ground as he put a servo on his chest.   
‘You… you're sparked…’  
‘He… I never told him. He left. I left. The sparkling is in stasis. I won't let him emerge without his sire there.’  
Nitro rumbled, looking over the memory with pained optics. Pharma set a servo on his shoulder, rubbing the plating comfortingly.  
‘It's okay.’  
‘Thank you. I can't take Tarn from your memories. It's not in my power to do. But I can help.’  
The dragon leaned forward, and everything snapped into consciousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry Animals Crossing has consumed my life and apparently I'm an 'essential worker' so even though I'm literally just posting prewritten chapters, I'm still lazy lol


	4. Permafrost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter of the main story, the two after this will be epilogues!

The end of gestation came at the time where Pharma ended his fear of the leader of the DJD. Nitro hadn't let his own sparkling out of stasis, but he had told Pulsewatch. And Bluebolt. He'd told everyone, including Night and Blaze’s twin sparklings, who hadn't cared much. If anything, Pharma found that endearing.  
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.--.-  
The pain was not such. Bluebolt had to be locked in the brig as her pack leader instincts cut in, turning the normally calm femme into a protective animal. Pulsewatch knew what he was doing. Even as Pharma clung to the sides of the berth, bending the metal under his servos, the pain kept getting worse, like he was being torn in half.  
“It's not too large for you to have naturally. I would know.”  
Primus, how did Bluebolt do this three times? And by herself?! Pharma screamed, the burning becoming so intense he might as well have stuck a welder up his valve. Then the feeling came. Push. And he did, and he kept doing it, until suddenly everything was gone and he felt empty. Pulsewatch handed him his son.   
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.--.-  
Rhirunner was a tank like his sire, but he was white and silver and gray and small, so small.   
“He's gonna get lots bigger. I know that Inky and Dusky are.”  
Blaze murmured, looking down at the new carrier and sparkling with wide optics.   
“I’m just… happy he's real.”  
Pharma said, running a digit along his son's face. It was surreal, that Tarn could have made something this pure.   
“Pharma. You need to sleep.”  
Nitro’s voice cut through, mustard yellow optics pale in the bright lit recovery room. For a moment, he didn't want to. But he did.  
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.--.-

The servo around his neck was heavy and tight. Pharma would have been amazed that Tarn could keep him that still, if the tank hadn't been prying open his spark chamber, which made this already pain-fogged mind scream. The merge was excruciating, almost as much so as the spike he didn't want spilling inside him. He heard Nitro roar, but the nightmare was too strong. As Tarn pulled away, Pharma could feel it. A tiny pulse next to his own. And then black and purple collided with black and green, two giants dueling in the snow, one who felt terrifyingly real and the other who was truly there, and who's own newspark was entering the world as his carrier fought.  
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.--.-  
Pharma woke up to see Nitro in stasis beside him, a dragonformer sparkling curled next to the black chassis, it's own gray blue plating moving as it vented.   
“I'm telling you, it just… The stress from the dream made him abort the stasis…”  
“All that matters is that Nitro is safe, that his son is alive and that… Pulse, I…”  
“Go, Blue. I'll tell them.”  
The larger shadow stepped away from the tinted window, Bluebolt vanishing towards the deck. Pulsewatch slipped inside, his rotors sunk in a saddened position as he set optics on Pharma.  
“What happened…”  
“You were struggling in recharge. Nitro went into your dream… and he just got… mad. Insanely angry, so much so that he broadcasted what he saw to everyone, except the twins. In fact, the spark surge was so powerful it knocked his sparkling out of stasis and started emergence.”  
Pharma gaped, looking over at the dragonformer. In Nitro’s rage, he had shared the very image of his nightmare with the ship, and had borne his own sparkling while fighting a opponent who nobody else could see.   
“Bluebolt wanted you to know that she got a transmission from… an old friend of hers. We're going somewhere. She says she has to save Megatron.”


	5. Epilogue 1: Her Armour is Iron

Battle. Battle was one of the few things that Bluebolt loved. She loved her sparklings, deeply so, and she loved her packmates. Although she denied it rigorously, deep inside her she still loved Swindle. But fighting was in her nature, built into razor sharp claws and curved fangs. It was a shame, as she liked Deathsaurus very much, seeing as he was a dragonformer like her and had slightly more intelligence than the other ragtag hooligans she had been forced to associate with. But overriding exhilaration, loyalty and passion was contempt. Claws spread wide, tail lashing, optics blazing, Bluebolt stepped in front of Megatron, glaring back at her leader. The message was clear.  
‘This one is mine.’

Grabbing Tarn in her talons, Bluebolt felt it. Lightning, racing through her like nothing she'd ever felt. Just a glimpse of her wings held bright neon blue stripes along the edge, and she knew. This would be the day.  
“Fight, you coward. Fight me!”  
She'd seen Whipwind teleport them, just out of range of the place where the rest were hidden. She'd seen Rodimus save Megatron. Now they were alone, and she had the chance. Tarn scowled right back at her, gaze filled with hatred.  
“You're a traitor.”  
“I'm a survivor. I'm a carrier, a leader, and I'm the one who will watch your son grow.”  
That seemed to hit home. A blast flew past her left horn, missing narrowly as she swerved to the side, opening her maw to send her own bolt at the tank.   
‘This isn't Damus. Damus is dead,Tarn killed him. You do not need to feel remorse.’  
The voice wasn't hers, but she didn't care. Primus, she didn't care, because this mech, if he survived, would attack her family, and not just the pack. Tarn would attack stupid, naive little Railmotor, and Windwaker, and he would go after her children.  
“I won't let you hurt them.”  
Thunder cracked through the air, even though no clouds were overhead. With every step, lightning arched over her back, and anger welled in her spark.  
“Goodbye Tarn.”  
She opened her maw, and the storm inside her broke loose. 

Nothing touches a thunderwyrm and survives without it's approval.

Tarn didn't stand a chance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more epilogue to go. Sorry I haven't updated this. Have some fight scene.


End file.
